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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
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Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
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Films
8 Films
with a digital version available
x
Region
“South America”
x
Country
“Brazil”
x
films with a digital version
8
x
Region
South America
8
x
Southern Africa
1
Country
Angola
1
Brazil
8
x
Keywords
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
3
Ethnofiction
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
2
Gender Role and Identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
4
LGBTQI*
1
Land Rights
2
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Political Activists
2
Possession
2
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Resistance
2
Ritual
3
Sex / Sexuality
1
Social Conflict
2
Social Organisation
1
Directors
Assunção, Matthias Röhrig
1
Beckham, Michael
2
Cross, Stephen
1
Davidson, John Paul
1
Dettmann, Christine
1
Opipari, Carmen
1
Pakleppa, Richard
1
Pasini, Carlos
1
Sjøberg, Johannes
1
Timbert, Sylvie
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
4
not set
4
Country of production
Brazil
1
France
1
South Africa
1
Sweden
1
United Kingdom
7
Year of production
1974
1
1977
1
1987
1
1989
1
1990
1
1997
1
2007
1
2014
1
Film list
Barbara and Her Friends in Candombleland
1997
52
‘
Directed by
Sylvie Timbert
Carmen Opipari
.
In the divine Afro Brazilian cult Candomble is an initiation religion centred around possession. The filmmakers concentrate on children who introduce and guide us to this world. The children play
South America
Children / Young people
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Possession
Ritual
Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
2014
87
‘
Student
Directed by
Richard Pakleppa
Matthias Röhrig Assunção
Christine Dettmann
.
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo
South America
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
The Kayapo
1987
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Political Activists
Resistance
Social Conflict
The Kayapo: Out of the Forest
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
Early in 1989 the Kayapo rallied other Brazilian Indians to attend a reunification of the tribes at Altamira«the proposed site of a massive hydro-electric dam, that will flood large parts of the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Resistance
Film / Photography / Mass media
Political Activists
Social Conflict
The Mehinacu
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Carlos Pasini
.
The Mehinacu live near the head-waters of the River Xingu in Central Brazil, in a single village within the protective confines of the Xingu National Park. Although the film concentrates upon the
South America
Social Organisation
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
The Storyteller
1990
50
‘
Student
Directed by
John Paul Davidson
.
Unaware of the written word until the 1950s, the Waura tribe who live in the headwaters of the Xingu river in Brazil still practise the art of storytelling. Tribal storyteller Aruta recounts one of
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Religion / Belief / Faith
Transfiction
2007
58
‘
Directed by
Johannes Sjøberg
.
Transfiction explores ‘ethnofiction’ – an experimental ethnographic documentary film style in which the participants collaborate with the filmmaker to act out their own and others’ life experiences
South America
Reflexivity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Ethnofiction
Umbanda
1977
52
‘
Directed by
Stephen Cross
.
Umbanda is a syncretic religious movement, combining elements from orthodox Catholicism with submerged African and indigenous Indian spiritual beliefs. In spite of past attempts to suppress it,
South America
Possession
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual